Battlefields - 1 : Mowgli
From behind the dense clumps of Bamboo, and the tall Teakwood, Crocodile Bark (ain) and Coromandel Ebony (tendu) trees, interspersed with Vetiver (khus) grasses walks the majestic tiger. The calm and the serene milius suddenly erupts into clamor, with a volley of alarm calls. With the cover blown, the tiger cannot stalk anymore; so, it walks. But there is more to this story. Within a stone’s throw, relaxing in a pool is another tiger, that’s now wary of an inconspicuous intruder.
This territory has not one or two or three but atleast six dominant tigers. Tigers, here, are at a constant battle for supremacy. Hailing from different pedigrees, and having learnt the art of hunting from mothers, and the art of fighting from siblings, the crème da la crème tigers of Tadoba, Moharli, Kolsa and Brahmapuri ranges arrive at heart of the reserve to conquer the throne at the omphalos of bloodshed – the battlefields of the Tadoba range.
Despite being from the same national park, the build of the tigers from each of these ranges is very different. Tigers in different ranges adapt to hunting different prey, mostly based on the availability of the prey. In the grasslands, they hunt deer (sambhar or chital), while in the fringes, tigers subsist (though not entirely) on cattle. In the Kolsa area, which has a relatively higher concentration of Indian Gaurs, the largest bovid, tigers have resorted to hunting the humungous beast which is more than 10 times the weight of the tiger. The result is that the tigers that feed on the gaurs are bulky and stronger. Considering the same portion/weight, deer meat is leaner and less calorific than a gaur’s meat. So, a gaur than many deer would still provide a stronger DEE (easily energy expenditure) quotient, and that would mean bigger tigers. When this kind of nutrition is provided to cubs, they grow to humongous proportions.
That makes Kolsa tigers the bigger of the lot (of the Tadoba tigers) because even tigresses are gaur huntresses and the cubs regularly feed on the gaur-kills.
The history of Kolsa tigers predates to Shivaji (T-40) that dominated the Kolsa territory. He along with a tigress known as Chitra aka Kakarghat tigress (late 2000) populated Kolsa. Strong and huge, built like a tank, and fearless, Shivaji was a force to reckon with. He was monikered the ‘big boss of Tadoba’ for no less reason. Not much is known about Shivaji and Chitra’s other litters. One of the litters is the famed Kuwani aka Raiba tigress.
Shivaji could have dominated for many years, probably 7-8, and could have ruled the park for a longer time if not for another behemoth known as Gangaram. By 2012, Shivaji was defeated by Gangaram, who pushed Shivaji towards the fringes of Kolsa. Gangaram dominated a huge chunk of Kolsa since. In 2014, another massive tiger known as Kakarghat male (T-36) fought with Gangaram, claimed almost half his territory by pushing Gangaram to the southern part of Kolsa.
Tiger numbers slowly increased in Kolsa with these two males mating with Hirdi Nala, Shivanjari (T-6) and Kuwani tigresses. Mowgli was born in the third litter of Kuwani, fathered by Gangaram in 2016. Paras and the Zari-Peth female are his siblings.
By 2018, these tigers reached sub-adulthood and other subadults such as Rudra, Tala from Shivanjari family were trying to establish their own territories. The massive Shiva, the son of Waghdoh and Kori, set off a chain of events by ousting every male in the Kolsa range. Gangaram and Kakarghat tigers probably moved to the fringes, while four tigers viz., Rudra, Tala, Paras and Mowgli made inroads to Tadoba range.
The Tadoba dominion is haunted by a skewed male-female ratio; there are more males per female, than any other range across the country. This results in shorter reign of the tigers, and eventually less safe for offspring, as males protect the females and cubs from intruders.
By 2018, Matkasur was ruling a major portion of Tadoba range in the core, a territory he claimed from the formidable Tyson, Saturn, and Gabbar much earlier. Kali was ruling parts of Navegaon buffer which he claimed from Narasimha and Ravan was ruling parts of Kolara buffer.
Matkasur’s own sons from Choti Tara, Chota Matka and Tara Chand (who later succumbed to electrocution) were in search of territories. This influx of males created an unsettling bloodbath in the already war-torn Tadoba range.
Matkasur was dethroned by Tala and Rudra, the young turks proving too much even for a dominant tiger in his prime. He found recluse towards the northern part of the park in Kolara buffer, where he was further pushed to the fringes of the park by Dagoba (of unknown origins)
The fight then came down to the younger males – Mowgli, Rudra, Tala, and Chota Matka. With a couple more years passing, two tigers, viz., Balram (T-66; son of T2 and T3 from Brahmapuri) and Yuvraj (T-164; son of Kuwani and Shiva, third litter) joined the fray.
In early 2019, Mowgli migrated to Alizanja area deposing the ageing king Kali. He could have reached Alizanja via Kolara buffer. Three young tigers, viz., Zorawar and Samrat (Raavan and Sharmili’s litter from 2016) and Joga male (Narasimha + Jharni’s litter) were trying to establish territories then. Mowgli seemed to have ousted them with ease; Mowgli fought with Samrat in July 2019 in the adjoining Navegaon-Ramdegi area. He then started to court Joga’s sibling Mayuri and Jharni. By late 2019, Jharni delivered a litter of 3 cubs, one of them being Chota Mowgli and in early 2020, Mayuri delivered a litter of 3 cubs. However, Mayuri vanished without a trace in October 2020, presumed dead, orphaning her 3 cubs (one of the cubs was found dead).
Chota Matka was trying to establish his territory in the Navegaon and Alizanja area, when he met with stiff resistance from Mowgli. By the monsoons of 2021, Chhota Matka was mauled badly by Mowgli, a fight that disfigured Chota Matka; Mowgli was then ruling a sizeable portion of the North-Eastern part of Tadoba towards Alizanja and Kolara buffers.
Mowgli was consolidating his territory when his own sons from Jharni posed a threat to his dominance. As he stepped into subadulthood, Chota Mowgli was pushed out of the territory by his father, Mowgli. Chota Mowgli moved to the natal area of his father at Kolsa, and had a brief tiff with the Kuwani female, his own grandmother, who was protecting her 3 cubs. He later settled in the Zari-Peth buffer of Kolsa.
In the meanwhile, Mowgli’s prime nemesis, Chhota Matka recovered and launched a spate of attacks on Mowgli. In April 2022, Chhota Matka had the upper hand; he injured and exiled Mowgli and claimed the entire territory of Mowgli. He later killed the cubs of Jharni, fathered by Mowgli, and expanded his territory, now encompassing and dominating a huge territory between Navegoan-Ramdegi and Alizanja areas. He is probably the biggest of the contemporaries and is truly indomitable.
Mowgli was left floating without a territory, and he became a wandering tiger for many months.
In early 2023, he slowly started to move towards core. The queen of panderpauni, Maya was raising her cub from Balram, but lost her cub, probably to an intruding male. A few months prior, Rudra made inroads into the queen’s territory and was accosting her. Slowly, Mowgli began advancing into the uncharted territory – to ascend the empty throne. Rudra, who had a fight with Balram earlier in 2023, isn’t at his best. Another tiger Bajrang, the once dominant and supreme ruler of Moharli range was also taking recluse close-by. Each of the tigers, especially Mowgli and Rudra, were avoiding the other, playing a cat-and-mouse game with no actual confrontations.
An ironic situation, the territory of Maya now has five male tigers – Yuvraj, Bajrang, Rudra, Mowgli and Balram; each of them coveting the throne – ironic because the territory of a male encompasses the territories of many females. The skewed male-female ratio makes it very difficult for a tigress to raise cubs in this war-torn land. Only four out of seventeen cubs from five litters managed to survive to subadulthood, with only two of these surviving to adulthood.
The history of Panderpauni and Tadoba lakes is such – this is a battlefield. W-male, Hilltop male, old Katezhari male, Jabbar, Saturn, Tyson, Gabbar, Narasimha, Kali, Matkasur, and Chota Matka came, saw and conquered, but were defeated before they could establish an order. No other tiger reserve has or had witnessed such bloodshed. The strife is daunting and the ordeal of the queens (who keep losing their cubs) amidst this carnage is unending. The Tadoba range had always been the Colosseum of tiger world. There are no Kings or Emperors; only gladiators. Pegged evenly, though battle-hardened, none could have a long reign. They come, they fight; some die, some vanish, and some live to fight another day. But the war rages on…
